I also liked the pick when it happened but I was hoping we'd see more of the good mid-range shooting that he had at USC and development in his playmaking. Right now, he's a below-average player who doesn't give you anything unless he is having a good shooting night from the perimeter (rare).

With his poor play and glaring flaws, he is not a player that I would be adamant about keeping around for the future. If an SG happens to be the best pick available for the Raptors in the draft, a player like Derozan shouldn't stop you from taking them. Derozan will be around for one more year and we'll see what he's got. By the end of next year, we'll see exactly what kind of player he will be going forward. If he continues to play poorly, the Raptors will let him walk.

...

Who am I kidding? Colangelo probably already has the 5 year $50 million contract ready.

Have you guys noticed any notable growth in his game from last year? To me he still seems the same player but all his stats have gotten worse this year (presumably from having the spotlight and defenses foused on him). After last year I thought he'd average about 20 ppg on decent percentages but it just hasn't happened. I never expected this guy to be a great 3 point shooter or even playmaker but he hasn't even gotten other things down yet either.

Have you guys noticed any notable growth in his game from last year? To me he still seems the same player but all his stats have gotten worse this year (presumably from having the spotlight and defenses foused on him). After last year I thought he'd average about 20 ppg on decent percentages but it just hasn't happened. I never expected this guy to be a great 3 point shooter or even playmaker but he hasn't even gotten other things down yet either.

IMO hes got to get a lot stronger to keep up with a lot of these SGs and also contribute on the glass. I'd have to agree that hes the same player he was last year, except he can somewhat shoot the 3 this year.

His shot isn't falling this year, but I'm still really confident in his midrange game.

He's still a work in progress but his window with us is coming short. The positives you can pull out this year is he's learning how to execute better on offense. You can see he's making better cuts/curls, and he knows where he should be. He's also playing better defense. Seriously...those years under Triano did him no good other than boost his confidence. You could see early in the season when he was struggling out there he looked like a college freshman trying to figure out the system.

I think all in all, it's hard for a young guy to reach his full potential when he jumps into a losing structure from day one and his coaches/teammmates change frequently on a year to year basis. On one hand you could say that he'll probably see a lot more minutes on this team than he would on a team with championship aspirations. But on the other hand, he can't really find his niche because of the aforementioned reasons. And I think he'd be better in a James Harden type of 6th man role, he may even excel in something like that with the right teammates around him.

I think all in all, it's hard for a young guy to reach his full potential when he jumps into a losing structure from day one and his coaches/teammmates change frequently on a year to year basis. On one hand you could say that he'll probably see a lot more minutes on this team than he would on a team with championship aspirations. But on the other hand, he can't really find his niche because of the aforementioned reasons. And I think he'd be better in a James Harden type of 6th man role, he may even excel in something like that with the right teammates around him.

Except Harden has a much much more complete game. Even on a day like today when Derozan is shooting well. 8-15 18 points. 2 free throws. 1 rebound. 0 assists.

Except Harden has a much much more complete game. Even on a day like today when Derozan is shooting well. 8-15 18 points. 2 free throws. 1 rebound. 0 assists.

And that's the main problem with the Raptors. The two players who are supposed to be the "best" players (or at least the primary scoring options) only have good games when their jumpers are on. When the jump shot is off, they can't do anything else at even an average level and thus become useless on the floor.

The point of what I was trying to say isn't that he's an equal talent to Harden.

And the point I was trying to make is that the 6th man type of player you're envisioning: James Harden, Manu Ginobolli, isn't a player that just comes off the bench to score 18 point but can also facilitate the offense and make plays for others.